Michael Carosone is a writer, a poet, an adjunct professor, a librarian, and an activist for gay rights, human rights, animal rights, and environmental rights. He has published poems in Gay City Volume 1, Gay City Volume 2, Gay City Volume 3, and Avanti Popolo: Italian American Writers Sail Beyond Columbus; essays in White Crane, Strangers to These Shores, and various anthologies; and articles in Gay City News and The Huffington Post. He was awarded the Editors’ Poetry Prize for his published work in Gay City Volume 2. He has given readings and discussions, and presented papers at conferences. Michael earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Arts degree in English, Master of Science degree in Education, and a Master of Science degree in Library and Information Sciences. He is pursuing his Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree in English Education at Teachers College of Columbia University, and his dissertation will focus on incorporating marginalized literatures and writers—Queer and Italian American—into the English classroom, in grades K-12 and at the college level. Michael’s primary interest is studying, researching, and writing about marginalized literatures, voices, and peoples. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, he now lives in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, with his partner, Joseph LoGiudice. For more information on Michael, please visit his Web site: michaelcarosone.com.